FAQ Category Support & Subscription

1. Credits

1.1. #0002 - Can I receive professional support for the Check_MK Raw Edition?

No. If you desire professional support for Check_MK, then you will need to take out a subscription for the Check_MK Enterprise Edition. Within the support framework, we will of course also be happy to assist you with a migration from the Raw Edition or from another monitoring solution to the Enterprise Edition. Exchanges regarding the Raw Edition can be found in the free Check_MK mailing lists.

2. Subscription

2.1. #0003 - How precisely are the subscription's services counted?

The number of productive monitored services is relevant for the necessary subscription level. This number can be found at top left in the Check_MK interface's Tactical Overview. If it is the case that you operate Check_MK redundantly in an HA-cluster the services will not be doubly counted. Pure test systems for trialling Check_MK versions, etc., are also not counted. If multiple Check_MK instances are in use, then the sum of the services over all of the instances in your business is the relevent number.

Standalone or single HA-Cluster:
In your monitoring site, you can find under the host on which your site is running a service "OMD MYSITE performance", which has a graph tracking the number of monitored hosts and services. Alternatively, you can search for "OMD" in the quicksearch to find this service.
The history of number of services has to be assumed by the graph "Check Performance" if the agent on the Check_MK server is older than version 1.2.8.

Distributed Monitoring:
The mentioned graph is available for every site. You can add these graphs to a shared custom graph to get the total number of services over all sites and then summarize these. Here is explained how summarizing works: Calculating with formulae on custom graphs

Yes. You are completely free as to the number of Check_MK instances used for configuring your monitoring. Only the total number of monitored services is used to determine the subscription size.

3. Credits

3.1. #0005 - For how long are credits valid?

Credits are valid for 12 months from the purchase date, after which time they expire. However, before the expiry date, you can submit requests for tasks to us to the value of your remaining credits.
In such a case the credits will not expire, even if the actual execution of the tasks will take longer.

4. Subscription

4.1. #0006 - Does the number of hosts being monitored influence the subscription price?

No. The price is determined solely by the total number of monitored services.

4.2. #0007 - How many services must I take into account if I have X hosts to monitor?

For a typical processing centre you can expect to have around 30-70 services per host. But naturally it makes a difference if you, eg. monitor a switch only with PING, or a data base server with 50 Oracle instances.

4.3. #0020 - What limitations does the demo version of Check_MK have?

The demo version of Check_MK is completely identical with the Enterprise Edition - except for the fact, that about 5% of the check results randomly get the state "WARN". That means
that you can try out all of the features of the Enterprise Edition - event in a distributed setup.
It's just not possible to use the demo version in a production environment. The demo version can be updated to a full version later - while your configuration and data is kept.

4.4. #0022 - Which services count towards the subscription price if I run a combination of CEE and CRE?

All services that are visible on a CEE-site are counted.

Example 1:
- Site1 CEE 2000 services
- Site 2 CRE 1500 services
- Independent sites that do not communicate with each other.
=> The subscription will be calculated based on the 2000 services on site1.

Example 2:
The same sites as in example 1, but additionally the services on Site1 are via Multisite visible on Site2
=> The subscription will be calculated based on the 2000 services on site1.

Example 3:
The same sites as in example 1, but additionally the services on Site2 are via Multisite visible on Site1
=> The subscription will be calculated based on the 2000 services on site1, plus the 1500 services on Site2 – making a total 3500 services.

4.5. #0024 - When do I need a subscription with the option "Managed Services"?

When I monitor a physical system (hardware) whose functions are provided exclusively for another specific organisation (end customer).

Clarifications:
* It is irrelevant whether the monitored systems used by the end customer are my property or the customer's. It is also irrelevant whether a system is located in my or in the customer's processing centre.
* The monitoring of pure software services or virtual machines provided by the end customer does not require the MSP-Option.
* The monitoring of hardware used by multiple end customers likewise does not require the MSP-Option.

4.6. #0025 - When will my customer require their own Check_MK-Subscription?

When they use the Check_MK-System themselves.
A Check_MK-system user is one who rectifies – or who initiates the rectification of – problems identified by Check_MK. Whether the Check_MK is installed on your server or on the end user's (customer's) is irrelevant. Your end user will require their own subscription when you install, configure and maintain the system for them. Your customer will not require their own subscription when they only receive PDF reports from Check_MK or have access purely for information, but they are not responsible for rectifying problems reported by Check_MK.
Also your customer may manage scheduled downtimes and acknowledges with Check_MK.